What better, faster and more practical way of setting a mood in the room than by dimming some big, warm, incandescent bulbs? There is none. Moreover, you can do it almost instantly when you have a table lamp with an inbuilt touch dimmer – all you have to do is touch the lamp and hold it for a second or two. A slight touch of your finger and voila – no scented candles needed. If you like industrial installations, you can also have a lamp with a faucet knob dimmer and pour the light into the bulb just like you pour water from the tap. Smoothly.
All this great features are beautifully presented in a new Zapalgo promotional spot. There is pink, there is green, there are even copper giraffes. But most of all – gorgeous copper lamps in many satisfying colors – from fashionable millennial pink copper, through warm, golden brass to pastel, modern turquoise blue. All that acquired without a drop of paint! Copper is a very reactive metal, it develops a patina in a process of oxidation easily and can be used as a base metal for many kinds of plating – brass or nickel for instance. Zapalgo draws from this feature to the fullest.
Company specializes in, as they say, modern interior brutalism. Their take on modern design is not simple – when they think of a new project, they like it to balance evenly between being fairly functional and safely unconventional. The new campaign shows only a small part of their collection, ranging from table lamps, sconces, pendants, to furniture and accessories. Most of their projects are kept in industrial, loft, savage yet easily recognizable style. But with the new promotional campaign they want to show that style is only a word – by mixing colors, materials and finishes, they tangle with fashion and trends, creating something new and hard to categorize. Showing that good design can defend itself in every environment and time.
Zapalgo was founded in 2013 by three since-high-school friends – Tomasz Kudelski, Maciej Papinski and Andrzej Ruszkowski. They were always interested in design, but have never worked together. It wasn’t until 2013 that their paths crossed again and their vision focused on one simple thing – to start a designer studio.
The decision was easy and fast due to their different, yet complementary past work experience. Andrzej, a graduate in Philosophy from Warsaw University, was fluent in computer graphics with true passion and experience in photography. Maciej, Warsaw School of Economics graduate, has been ever since interested in art, especially in modern design. But it was Tomasz that had previously done some major interior projects, including custom made furniture and lighting.
For the past 15 years, Tomasz has been renovating, rebuilding, redesigning and reconstructing an eclectic styled castle in the beautiful suburbs just outside Warsaw. Every interior represents different style and aesthetics, from cold medieval inspired fireplace room, luxury mahogany Art Deco living room, to French industrial metal staircase. Each one has its own distinguishable character, but they all have one thing in common – they are completed in every detail. Completed in the sense of a whole view – every detail fits as if it was born to be exactly in that one place, creating a perfect harmony.
Zapalgo uses a lot of copper in their projects, mostly in a form of hydraulic copper pipes and fittings, or thick copper plates. Copper pipes are commonly used in hydraulics for water or earth gas distribution, but it is rather an uncommon metal to be used in modern design. This may be partly because copper is a soft, highly reactive metal – it oxidizes quickly and easily, changing its color and structure. For some this can be troublesome and hard to overcome, but for Zapalgo it was intriguing, challenging and inspiring. A great role played also the fact that Poland is amongst biggest copper exporters in the world, making copper accessible and popular. Raw copper is warm, shiny and bright. You can maintain the color and shine by varnishing it, but it is rather the possibility of putting many colorful patinas on copper that makes it so unique.
When Zapalgo colorizes copper, they do not use paint – all colors are obtained in natural oxidation process called patination. Customer may choose from four different colored patina finishes: green, turquoise, black or special aged copper finish. Patina is obtained in a labor-intensive and demanding process, but the final result is astonishing. It gives previously strictly industrial objects a whole new character.
Most of our designs are manly, tough, severe and rough, but, when we introduced turquoise patina, they suddenly changed their feel by 180 degrees. With newly acquired pastel, warm, bright colors and colorful braid-covered cables, we instantly got whole new products, for different interiors and styles. But that’s not all – recently we started plating copper with brass and nickel, which gave us almost infinite possibilities of customization.
Same principles apply to making shades – from natural linen and jute, and to making wooden furniture. They choose only best, solid timber – White European Oak and American Walnut, and finish it with great recognition to natural material. Brushed finishes make the grain visible and perceptible, different colors – white, carbon and natural waxed – make furniture fully customizable.
But Zapalgo distinguishes from other lighting companies something more. It is the way you turn them on and dim them. Most of their lamps have an inbuilt dimmer – some of them have touch dimmers, controlled only with a slight touch of your hand. All you have to do is touch and hold any part of the lamp. The small mechanism detects a slight change of electric load on the copper construction and dims the bulb, a great idea when you’re thinking of a new bedside lamp. But the other type of dimmer is ingenious as well. It is operated with a real faucet knob – you pour electricity to the bulb just like you pour water in the tap. As simple as that, but very playful and entertaining.
All Zapalgo projects are hand made with true engagement and watchmaker’s precision, with high attention to every detail. Every single one is a standing and working proof of unique vision and artisanal work of human hands. A perfect match for customers with loft and industrial taste who can really and truly appreciate exceptional, ingenious design.
